Terror of the Krynoid
by Ichabod Ebenezer
Summary: Nth Doctor part 9 of 12. While returning from a trip to Planet Carnivàle, the Doctor and Pandora respond to a distress signal from a ship crash landed on a nearby planet. It looks like an easy enough job until the Doctor realizes that this planet hides a lurking horror. Pandora is supposed to stay behind, but when have the Doctor's companions ever done what they're supposed to?
1. Milk Run

The atmosphere in the console room was heavy with static electricity, as the control crystals oscillated slowly up and down. The room was empty and the gas lights were turned down low. The engines ground away as the Tardis spun through eternity.

Just beyond, in the galley could be heard the sounds of laughter and life.

"And when you poked that poor man in the face!" the Doctor roared with laughter. "Oh, I could have died from embarrassment."

Pandora was wearing a gold and green sequined dress and matching striped top hat. She giggled as she tried to defend herself. "How was I to know that was his actual face? It was three feet across and looked like papier-mâché!"

The Doctor was drinking some sort of glowing blue cocktail, and smiling from behind an enormous pair of glasses that spelled out '2,000,013'. "When I bring you to an alien world, Pandora, you're going to have to expect a few aliens," the Doctor responded.

"Okay, well, you're one to talk about embarrassment! Pulling me up onto the float with the King of Carnivàle! You could have at least told me that you knew him first."

Pandora pulled a samosa from a paper bag and split it in two. She bit into one half while she threw the other half of it over Obelix's head. Obelix jumped and spun, catching it in his mouth, then turning back to her for more. When it was obvious her attention was elsewhere, he turned to the Doctor instead and made a sound somewhere between a whine and a growl.

"Yeah. Colnivox sure knows how to party. Breaking him out of prison turned out to be a pretty good idea after all. Goes to show, you never can tell with people, er, arthropods." He slid a bit of meat covered in sesame seeds and sauce off of a skewer and tossed it absently to Obelix. The dog snatched it out of the air and turned back toward Pandora, licking his chops.

"Yeah, well, you can put Planet Carnivàle on our lists of places to come back to any day."

"Sure, but we've been to that one now. Let's see the rest of the universe, shall we?"

The two lapsed into silence, deep in their own thoughts. Obelix eventually gave up waiting and walked to an automatic water dispenser the Doctor had put together at floor level. He began lapping at it loudly and broke the silence.

The Doctor sat up excitedly. "I have something I keep meaning to give you!" He said. He stood up and crossed the room to open a cupboard there.

"A present, for me? You really shouldn't have," Pandora said, sitting up and turning to watch him.

"Not so much a present," the Doctor said, pulling a large binder out of the cupboard and blowing the dust off of it. "More of an FAQ If you're going to be traveling with me, there's bound to be some questions you're going to ask, and it's come to my attention that I'm not very good at answering them." He flipped it open and looked at the first page. "Yes, it is bigger on the inside. Yes, well, I think we've covered that one already." He thumbed through and opened it at a random page. "Ah, here's a good one: 'Doctor! I just saw a ghost!'" He stopped his narration and looked up at Pandora. "Technically that wasn't a question, but I'll fix that later; it's the answer that's good: 'There is no such thing as a ghost. Trust me. I know what you've just seen was pretty convincing, but I've been from one end of the universe to the other, from the beginning of time to the end, and though it's been claimed many times, and I've even seen some things I couldn't initially explain, it was never a ghost.'"

His eyes ran on down the page. "It goes on for a bit about all the things it could be…" He snapped the binder shut and laid it on the table in front of Pandora. "Lots of good info in there. Any bit of it could save your life in case of a Terileptil attack or a deadly pop-quiz. I suggest you read up."

She opened the binder to a random page and placed a finger halfway down without looking. She examined the page and read off what she was pointing at. "'Doctor, what happens if I accidentally kill my grandfather?' And the answer…" she scanned down a little further, "'Do you seriously go around accidentally killing people? No. Just don't make an exception for your grandfather and you'll be fine.'"

Pandora looked up at the Doctor with an incredulous look on her face. "Did you actually intend for this to be useful, or were you just really bored one night?"

Suddenly a loud horn began to sound. It reminded Pandora of the sound they played in those old World War II movies when the submarine was flooding or something. The Doctor cocked an ear to the side, then ran for the console room. Pandora stood up and ran after him. "What is that?" she shouted. "Is that a fire alarm or something?"

The Doctor got to the console where a large red lamp was blinking in time with the siren. He flipped a nearby switch and the noise stopped immediately. After such a noise, the silence had a weight to it, a thickness, like the air around them was made of something like cotton. Pandora held her hands to her ears and flexed her jaw, trying to shake off the effect.

"No," he said. "It's a distress signal." The Doctor removed his glasses and bent over the console, peering into a scope that lit up the area around his eyes with a soft green glow.

"There's a ship in distress out here in the vortex?" Pandora asked.

The Doctor continued to look into the scope, but his hands found various controls on the console, and he first turned a wheel anti-clockwise, then flipped up a bank of switches, finally pushing a button before standing up and responding. "Not in here. We were passing through a point in space and time where outside the vortex, there was a ship in distress." He ran around to the next console section and pulled back the large telegraph lever. The crystals ceased their movement, and the engines died down. The Tardis had returned to normal space. "Looks like we aren't heading straight back home after all."

* * *

The Doctor went to the next section over and flipped another switch. The monitor came to life, and an Indian woman in a naval uniform appeared in the air above the console, reaching forward past the camera. The image had a fish-eye quality to it, as she was closer to the recorder than it was set up for. Her expression changed, and she stepped back as she recognized that the camera had started filming. "Mayday, Mayday!" she called out in panic.

"We can hear you!" Pandora called out. She waved her arms frantically, then felt stupid for doing so and put her arms back down.

"It's a recording," the Doctor said. "She can't hear you."

The woman in the recording continued. "This is Captain Aarti Chadha, of the Medical Ship Nirmala Joshi. We were on a relief mission to the Ganges Sector when the ship came under fire and was crippled."

There was the sound of a distant explosion, and a shower of sparks behind her made Captain Chadha duck before continuing. "We're uncertain whether it was a meteor shower, or an enemy attack. Long range sensors have been destroyed, and no ships show on short range radar. Please, if you have fired upon us, we have no weapons, and life support is down. We surrender unconditionally! Whoever hears this, we are in desperate need of rescue."

There was another voice, this one male, and the captain turned to look behind her. "Captain! Sensors have picked up a planet with a breathable atmosphere!"

"How much oxygen do we still have on board ship?" the captain asked.

"Half an hour at most!" came the response.

"Make for the planet!" the captain ordered. "Order the rest of the crew to life rafts!" She turned back to the camera. "Our position and current time is embedded in a carrier wave with this message. Please, please, help us in any way that you can!" She reached forward again, her arm disappearing from view, then the image became static-y for a moment and the message looped. "Mayday, Mayday!" she called out.

The Doctor switched off the monitor and peered through the scope again. Then he hurried to a set of dials, twisting them carefully. He flipped several switches, primed a pump and ran back to the monitor, turning it on.

"There's a part of space called the Ganges Sector?" Pandora asked.

"That was your take-away from the distress call?" the Doctor responded disapprovingly.

"No, but I figured you are already taking care of the important stuff, I could do with a history lesson," she said defiantly.

He paused for a moment, on the verge of arguing, but opted for the explanation instead. "Spoiler alert — in your future, the Earth becomes too polluted to be habitable. Now, did humanity band together to solve this problem?" he asked rhetorically, as he continued his dance around the Tardis console. "No! Of course not. They reverted to nationalism and started building great big ships. They set out into the galaxy, the Russians beating the pack. The American-Chinese Alliance headed out 34Tauri, while you lot jumped on the back of a Star Whale, while the Scottish went their own way, and the Indians, well, they claimed their own section of space, the Kamadhatu."

"Wait, the Earth gets abandoned?" Pandora repeated, aghast. "The Americans and the Chinese are allies? Star Whales are a thing? The way you explain things Doctor… You always leave me with more questions than answers."

The Doctor sighed. "That's why I made the FAQ, which I can see you haven't bothered to read yet," he said, annoyed.

The Doctor turned the monitor back on, and a large ship, emblazoned with a red cross, appeared over the console, moving slowly. The Doctor kept an eye on it while turning a crank and flipping more switches. A timer appeared, along with a dotted line representing the ship's trajectory. As the line extended further out, the ship shrunk to show the scale, as the arc of a planet appeared at the terminus of its path. "Oh, I don't like those entry parameters," the Doctor said.

He ran around to another section and began typing. Half the monitor began filling with scrolling text, too fast for Pandora to read. "The ship's automated logs," he explained. Then he pointed excitedly. "Ah! They managed to launch escape pods before the crash. Good. Three survivors, it looks like. No, wait, there's a fourth." He began turning a pair of dials, and the monitor zoomed in on the tail end of the path. Just before the dotted line intersected the planet, four smaller dashed lines sprouted from the first.

The left half of the monitor now showed the planet as a greenish sphere, with the ship carving a red gash along its surface. There was a cluster of three blinking blue lights nearby the end of the red streak, and one further out.

"This'll be a milk run. We'll pick up a few passengers and drop them off at wherever home is. What do you say, Pandora? Want to go save Captain Chadha and her crew?" He let the question hang in the air unanswered, as he went back to operating the controls of the Tardis console.

He set the destination coordinates, then ran to the telegraph lever, but he stopped with one hand on it. "Oh, no," he said, all color suddenly draining from his face. He let go of the lever and took a couple steps back. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no."

"What is it?" Pandora asked.

"The coordinates. I recognize them. Oh, this is bad. This is really, really bad," the Doctor said in a tense whisper.

"Yeah, kind of got the part where it's bad. What is bad?" Pandora persisted.

"Didn't they see the beacons?" he yelled, clutching at his hair with both hands. He turned a dial, and the view of the planet zoomed out again. "Wait a minute — no, that's not right. Where did all the beacons go?" He adjusted the coordinates slightly and threw the telegraph lever.

"Doctor, what the hell has got you so scared all of a sudden?" she demanded.

He paused to look at her nervously, but didn't answer. He reset the lever and ran to the doors, throwing them open. Pandora could see blackness through the doors, and the planet from the monitor now spinning slowly below them.

The Doctor leaned out of the Tardis with his arm extended. When he came back in, he had a handful of course metallic dust. "They've been pulverized," he said in awe, sifting the dust through his fingers and letting it fall to the floor.

Pandora closed the doors and stood with her back pressed against them. "Doctor, I don't understand. Please tell me, what's going on here?"

* * *

The Doctor seemed to make up his mind about something. "I need to tell you a story, so you'll understand," the Doctor said. He put an arm around Pandora's shoulders and guided her to the wide-armed leather chair he used for reading. He turned it to where it faced the console, and indicated for her to sit.

Pandora sat down and the Doctor ran to the console. He reached underneath it and disconnected a couple latches. A panel swung out and he pulled out a headset attached to two cables. He turned back toward Pandora and placed it on his head. The image of the greenish planet hanging above the console was replaced by an image of Earth.

"This story takes place on another planet, one you are quite a bit more familiar with," the Doctor started.

"You could just say 'Earth'," Pandora said sarcastically.

"When it's your turn to tell a story, you can tell it your way," the Doctor said. "Now, ages ago, a small meteor entered the Earth's atmosphere. Its outer shell became scorched, but it survived to crash into the great plain at the base of the Transantarctic Mountains." Above the console, the planet rotated to show its Southern pole, and a burning streak ending in a snowy crash. "It turns out the heat of atmospheric entry is a vital part of the biological cycle of a particular plant." The picture zoomed in further and showed the meteorite crack open, and two seeds popped out into the snow.

"Unfortunately for the plants, they'd landed in a part of the world where it was too cold to take root, and there they sat for tens of thousands of years." The seeds on screen got covered in millennia of snow, and the seasonal expansion and retreat of the Antarctic ice. "Until an expedition in the mid-seventies uncovered them. The scientists brought the curiosities back to their base, and contacted the funders of the expedition back in England. The decision was made to keep one of them frozen for preservation, but to let the other thaw so it could be examined." The seed on screen was left under lamps in a laboratory.

"While one of the researchers was present, the seed pod opened and a whip-like tentacle stung him. At this point, UNIT got involved, and I was called in. I arrived in Antarctica on a cargo plane with my companion Sarah." The monitor now showed a man in a long coat and multicolored scarf with big bushy hair and a floppy hat. Next to him stood a pretty, dark haired girl in a thick fur coat.

"Is that what you looked like, before you, uh, regenerated?" Pandora asked, with a deeply mischievous smile.

The Doctor turned to look at it as well. He felt idly at his nose, then turned back to face Pandora. "The one in the scarf, yeah. But that was more than a few lifetimes ago." He returned to his story.

"The man who had been injured was now bedridden, with a low temperature and green sores all over his body. The spot on his hand where he had been stung had spread all the way up the arm, scabbed over with a scaly green, almost bark-like substance. We drew some blood and ran some tests. The man's blood no longer had any platelets, they'd all been replaced with schizophytes, a sort of plant bacteria. The man's mental state continued to degrade, and the scabby material covered more and more of his body. He broke out of the infirmary, killing a man in the process. Before we found him, he had completed his transformation."

"What happened to him?"

"He'd been taken over by a Krynoid. This is how the plant reproduces, sending out seeds that incubate inside other life-forms."

"So, like the movie Alien,"

The Doctor sighed. "Yes, I guess. A bit. But with plants."

"Fortunately for us, the cold slowed down the Antarctic Krynoid to the point where it wasn't capable of spreading. It was caught in an explosion, and destroyed. But a rich fellow in England got word of the new discovery, and he purchased it and had it shipped to him. He was obsessed with plants, believing them to be superior to humans. He'd heard what the Antarctic one had done to a man, and purposely let it attack one of his researchers. Before I could get back to England and recover the seed, the man had been entirely transformed." The monitor showed a lumbering mass of writhing vines and roots in a vague approximation of humanoid form. It seemed to move by growing quickly in one direction, then the mass would flow along and extend another group of tendrils. From a distance it looked like the figure walking, but up close, it was more like roots seeking out improved soil.

"Unlike your _Alien movie_ , this creature can control all plant life near it." On the monitor, ordinary ivy started choking up pipes, tearing down communication wires and strangling people. "I couldn't stop it. The creature was growing at an incredible rate, and in the end, UNIT firebombed it, taking out a country manor and half a village along with it." The monitor showed the creature again, this time dwarfing the country mansion. But a squadron of jet fighters flew overhead, dropping bombs on the creature, destroying it. The Doctor took off the headset and replaced it under the console. The monitor went dark. "The Krynoid, as large as it was, hadn't yet produced any seeds of its own. If it had, the Earth may well have been overrun."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Pandora asked.

"Because the planet below us is where those seeds originated. A hundred million years ago, the planet below us was a diverse ecosystem with plants and animals, insects, birds and mammals, but a plant was evolving that would end all that. The planet was overrun a million years ago, and every life form on its surface, and even below _is_ the Krynoid. The entire planet is essentially one single living creature with no other thought in its head but to expand. And what does a creature like that do when there is no where left to expand into? Why, it tenses like a mousetrap, just waiting for anything to land on its spring-loaded trigger."

"I don't know if the crew of that ship is even alive anymore. The Tardis sensors are overwhelmed because the planet is one single massive life sign. I've got to try anyway. But I want you to sit this one out. It is too dangerous for you. Stepping outside would be signing your death warrant."

The Doctor walked to the wardrobe, and Pandora got up and followed him. "No," she said, "if it's as dangerous as you say, then you need someone to watch your back."

"This is non-negotiable," the Doctor said, looking through the clothes in the wardrobe. "Every square inch of that planet out there is a deadly trap. One paper cut would mean your certain doom."

"How is that any different from you going out there?" Pandora asked.

"It isn't. Except that I know what I'm doing, and I have… an environment suit." He found an orange jumpsuit with a wide rigid collar and began putting it on. "Besides. I promised Obelix he could come along on this one. He'll have my back."

"How is it going to be any safer for him than it is for me?"

The Doctor zipped up his jumpsuit and began searching through the wardrobe again. "Because, he can fit into… Ah! This little beauty." He pulled out a white environment suit, smaller than his but with the same rigid collar. It was made for a four-legged creature and had a badge sewn onto the shoulder bearing the letters 'CCCP'.

Pandora was looking at the Doctor very doubtfully, so he lifted the suit to look at it himself. "What? Sure, Obelix is a lot bigger than Laika ever was, but they make these things sort of one-size-fits-all." To demonstrate, he undid a strap on one of the legs, and it accordioned out to its full length. "Now. Helmets." He handed Pandora the canine space suit and started looking through a group of boxes in another section of the wardrobe.

He came up with a pair of mismatched helmets. "Obelix!" he called out. "Walkies!"


	2. Belly of the Beast

Obelix was quickly suited up, though unrecognizable inside the suit. Pandora had been worried that he wouldn't allow the Doctor to put the suit on him, then she remembered that he used to be a police dog, and was probably used to wearing a heavy vest. The Doctor attached the dog's helmet to his suit, and the two of them stood by the Tardis doors. The Doctor's sonic screwdriver could be seen poking out of a pouch on his belt.

"So, what exactly am I supposed to do? I mean, other than worry over your imminent deaths?" Pandora asked. She realized that she was pouting a bit about being left behind, but she felt justified, so she didn't care.

"Actually, I've been thinking about that," the Doctor said. He hooked his helmet on the hat rack and walked over to the console. He turned a set of dials and motioned for her to come over. He pointed out the nixie lights and split-flap display. "London, England. Earth. May Fifth 2017. Hyde Park." He walked around to another spot and rested his hand on the telegraph lever. "You've seen me do this bit. The coordinates are set. If anything happens to me, _anything_ , you push this lever full forward. When the engines stop, you go out those doors, and you never look back. You forget about me, and you forget about the Tardis. You go see your mum, and you live your life."

"Doctor, you're scaring me," Pandora said quietly.

"Good. Now that you're properly scared…" He pried open a panel on the floor below the console and pulled out a large plastic bin. He lifted the lid off and rummaged around in it, then re-attached the lid and reached into the cargo space beneath the console again. He came up with a second identical storage bin, and when he pulled off the lid, he immediately found what he was looking for. "Ah!" he said, and pulled out two items.

The first looked like a game console controller, with two handles and a flat surface containing a set of thumbsticks, buttons, and triggers. The second item looked like a dinosaur egg or something. It was too big to belong to an ostrich, but it was white and egg shaped. The rounder bottom part fit nicely in the Doctor's open palm. "Have you ever used one of these before?" the Doctor asked, holding it out to her.

"I have no idea what that is," Pandora said. She reached out for the egg, but the Doctor pulled it away.

"Actually, this part goes with me. _This_ is for you." He held out the controller.

She took it, flipped it over to look at it from all sides, then held it in both hands with her index fingers on the triggers, her left thumb on a thumbstick and her right thumb centered over the four buttons. It _felt_ like a game console controller.

The Doctor walked back over to the doors and took his helmet in his other hand. "Give me just a second, then flip that little switch on the underside." He put his helmet on and activated the seal, then opened up the door. He held the egg out at arms length and nodded toward Pandora.

Pandora quickly located the switch and flipped it. The egg in the Doctor's hand hummed to life. The top half of it lifted about a centimeter, and a pale blue light shown out at the seam. The egg lifted up from the Doctor's hand, and the Doctor put his arm down while the egg hovered there.

Pandora was startled when a hologram appeared in the air above the controller she held. The image was of the ground just outside the Tardis, and the Doctor's leg in his orange environment suit. When she jumped, the image also jumped and briefly showed a knot of vines and leaves outside, then righted itself and pointed at the ground again. She saw out of the corner of her eye that the egg-drone hadn't moved when the image did, so she watched the drone while she tried it again. She kept her fingers off the buttons, triggers and sticks, but just rotated the controller in the air. The image in front of her showed the vine cluster again, then panned across the vegetation, over a narrow path, across more plant life on the other side, and finally a bit of the Tardis interior.

The Doctor's voice came through the controller then. "I was going to give you instructions on how to use it, but I guess, just play with it. You'll figure it out."

Pandora put her face up to the controller and said, "Can you hear me as well through this?"

"I can hear you, and so can Obelix. You don't have to get so close to it though."

Pandora pushed forward on the left thumbstick, and the egg hovered out the door and along the path. She found that when she held the controller vertically, she could see where she was going with it. She reached over with her right thumb and pressed the other stick forward. The egg shot up out of sight, and the image climbed through massive trunks of the Krynoid and finally broke above the canopy.

"Okay, careful with it. Move a bit slower so you don't run into anything," the Doctor cautioned. "If you do, the Krynoid will probably react by crushing or eating the drone."

The Doctor stepped carefully outside the Tardis, then called for Obelix. "Kom," he commanded, then he stepped aside as Obelix loped out past him. "We'll have to go single file. This path isn't wide enough for us otherwise, and we can't risk touching the sides," he said nervously. He held onto the handles of the Tardis doors, and his eyes met Pandora's. "Remember. No matter what happens, you do not leave the Tardis."

With that, he pulled the doors closed.

* * *

Pandora leveled out the controller, and she could see the Doctor and Obelix moving carefully between the walls of deadly vegetation below. She pulled back on the right thumbstick and slowly descended toward them. "Doctor?" she called out to him.

"I'm here," he responded.

"Doctor, why is there even a path?" she asked. "I mean, if the Krynoid actually _is_ the entire planet, why would it need to move from place to place?"

"The Krynoid has many forms. Some of them are the eyes and ears. Maybe they need to roam the surface, like security guards in a museum. Otherwise…" the Doctor trailed off.

"Otherwise, what?" Pandora asked, concerned.

"Otherwise the path is just part of the trap," the Doctor said flatly.

Pandora followed them with the drone, keeping soberly silent, and making sure she had both of them in view. Obelix had a tendency to run ahead, then loop back, or simply wait for the Doctor to catch up. The Doctor on the other hand, moved with a great deal more caution. The walls of vegetation on both sides of the path were in constant albeit passive motion. If the Krynoid ever became aware of his presence, it would surely surround him and squeeze the life out of him, even if it didn't manage to take him over.

Now and again, a leafy shoot would probe out into the path, and the Doctor would stop for it, but inevitably, it would find some other section of plant mass to wrap around. Eventually, they came to a split in the path. The Doctor stopped, contemplating each direction. "Pandora, how about an arial view? Maybe you can see where the nearest of the escape pods is located, and which path will get me closer?"

"Yeah, hang on," she said. The drone shot up into the air until it was above the canopy. She swung the controller around to get a panoramic view. "It's hard to say… The types of trees or whatever changes up ahead. It looks like there's a clump of stuff, um, toward the right. Maybe that's it."

"How about when you use one of the other viewing modes? The gold button should do thermal," the Doctor said.

"Okay," Pandora said, and pushed the golden button. "Oh, cool! Yeah, that's it. It's way hotter than everything around it. There's a little white dot moving around inside it too."

The Doctor sighed with relief. "Good. I was worried that they were already done for."

"Oh, wow! Hey Doctor! I can see the ship here too, and it is huge. It's off to your left and goes on for miles. When I'm off thermal though, I can't see anything. The jungle has completely grown over it."

"That's to be expected. That's what it will do to us too, if we're not careful. Okay, we're heading right. Den här vägen Obelix. Let me know when we're close."

They followed the right path for a good ten minutes, when the sound of growling came over the speaker of Pandora's controller. "Doctor? What was that?"

"Obelix. He's found something." There was a pause that concerned Pandora, so she slowly lowered the drone back into the clearing of the path. The Doctor was kneeling down with one hand on Obelix's shoulder. "Very clever… There's a broad leaf laying across the path," the Doctor said. "Duktig pojke, Obelix." The Doctor looked up and around. "The path's been getting narrower as we progress, blocking out a lot of the light, and the leaf is almost the color of the dirt here. I wouldn't have seen it. If I'd stepped on it…" he let that sentence trail off. He stood up and pulled out his sonic. The white torch beam came on, and he commanded Obelix on. They walked on.

"How close are we?" the Doctor asked.

"Let me check," Pandora said. She brought the drone back up carefully, making sure not to touch the sides. When she reached the canopy, she switched back to thermal. "About another ten or fifteen meters, it looks like."

The Doctor walked a little further and came to a stop. "Do you see it?" Pandora asked.

"In a manner of speaking. There's another path leading off to the right, but this one isn't open overhead. It's like a cave." He shone his light upward. "With lots of stalactites." There were all manner of plant parts dangling down over the path; small shoots spiraling down here, flowers of one sort or another there, and even various types of fruit just begging to be picked and eaten by any crash survivor. The Doctor sighed. "On we go," he said, ducking low. He shone his light on the path below to make sure the fruit wasn't just a distraction. Once or twice they had to step over another leaf laying across the path, then ahead of them, he could see the smooth white surface of the escape pod. He stepped carefully up to it and shown his light around the edges of the path, then knocked on the door. He pressed a button on his suit to activate the external speakers on his helmet. "Rescue mission," he called out loudly.

Moments later there was a hiss of pressure equalizing. The door extended outward a few inches, then slid upward. A tall well-kept man stood in the entrance wearing a crisp blue uniform. In one hand he held a pistol, aimed at the Doctor, in the other, a machete. Obelix startled him by running past, but the man looked more scared than dangerous. Once he was sure he wasn't under attack, he said. "Get in, quick. The plants here move."

"There's no time. We have to keep moving," the Doctor replied. "Obelix, kom."

"I'm not going anywhere without my captain's say so. So you can come inside, or I can shut you out," the man said.

"Fine," the Doctor said, stepping inside. "But make it quick. The longer we wait, the more this planet tightens its coils around us."

The man pressed the button to slide the door shut, the moment the Doctor was inside. The pod was clearly not made for more than one inhabitant, but it was fairly roomy. There was one chair, built for the rigors of atmospheric entry, a food paste dispenser, and another for water. There were toilet facilities without privacy, and a view screen for entertainment, controlled from the arms of the chair. On the other hand, there was room to walk around, intended for exercise, but it also left room for several people to stand.

The man set down the machete, holstered the pistol and sat down in the chair. The Doctor took off his helmet and set it down by the entrance. He started opening drawers and cupboards, rummaging through them until he found the pod's environment suit. "Ah, excellent. Flimsy, but serviceable. Here. Put this on," he said, holding it out to the man.

The man ignored him. He activated the screen. "Ensign Goel to Captain Chadha," he said, holding down a button.

"Chadha here, ensign. How are you holding up?" came a voice over the monitor.

"Alive and well. And I have a visitor. He says he's with a rescue party," the man said.

"Oh, thank the gods. Can I see him?" the captain said.

The Doctor stepped out behind Ensign Goel. "Hello! Captain Aarti Chadha, so nice to finally meet you. Got your distress call. I'm the Doctor. Not so much a rescue _party_ as a rescu- _er_ and his rescue dog, though we're always up for a party, once we get you off this killer planet."

The woman from the distress call was on screen, a few stray hairs out of place, but otherwise as well as last he'd seen her. "Doctor, there are four survivors. If you and Ensign Goel can get through to me, I can show you where to find the other two."

"Right. Now listen. You stay put inside your escape pod. Do not attempt to leave on your own. Locate your environment suit and put it on. Instruct your crew to do the same. The plants here are dangerous. And though they look like many different types of plant, they are all the same creature. The planet itself is going to try to kill you."

"Understood." She glanced over her shoulder at a cupboard identical to the one where the Doctor had found Ensign Goel's environment suit. She looked back at the screen. "Ensign Goel, did you finish the weapon you were working on?"

"Weapon?" the Doctor asked warily. "Oh, no. No weapons. Weapons make people braver than they should be, then they do stupid things because they think they can."

Ensign Goel ignored him again. "Yes. Just now," he said to the captain. He got out of the chair and picked up something over by the door. He sat back down on the chair and held it up to the monitor, turning it to show all sides. It had two tanks, like a welder or a diver might use, duct taped to a long metal tube. At the mouth of the tube, two exposed wires were taped into place. A long strap ran the length of the tube, and he threw the strap over his shoulder. He held his left hand next to a trigger that would release the gas and caused a spark. "It's crude, but it ought to do the job," he said.

"Why does no one ever listen to me?" complained the Doctor. "Look, if you use that on anything, you're only going to make the planet angry — or worse, injure it. I'm sure you've heard, there's nothing more dangerous than a wounded animal? Try a wounded plant."

"Please, Doctor, you're not helping," the captain said on the screen. "Mr. Goel, keep the weapon in reserve. Use it only if you are cornered and threatened. Whatever else they are, they're just plants. If you wear the suit, and don't touch them, they won't even know you are there."

"Aye, captain. We're coming to get you. Goel out," he said. He pushed the button again, got out of the chair and accepted the suit from the Doctor.

Obelix was pawing at a cupboard the Doctor hadn't opened yet. The Doctor came to his side and opened the cupboard. Inside there were a couple dozen pouches of water. "Alright, Obelix. I'll take your helmet off for a moment, but when we open that door, it goes back on." He twisted it and pulled the helmet off of the dog, then he set it aside, tore open a pouch of water and held it out for Obelix to lap out of.

Ensign Goel was in his suit quickly, and the Doctor drank the last of the water in the pouch, then re-attached Obelix's helmet. Goel picked up his weapon and stood ready. The Doctor put on his own helmet and stood by the door control. He looked back at them and said, "Follow me carefully, and watch your step. Crouch low until we're through the tunnel." He activated the door and stepped outside.

* * *

They were back on the path. Once they'd gotten through the tunnel of vines, the Doctor checked on Pandora. "Pandora, are you still there?"

"Yes, Doctor," she called back. "I couldn't hear anything, but I could see three white blips inside the pod. It's good to hear you again."

The Doctor waved up at the egg-like drone floating up near the opening of the path. "Pandora, say hello to Ensign Goel. Ensign Goel, I never caught your first name," the Doctor said.

"Ensign Goel will do," the Ensign said, stepping out of the tunnel. Obelix hurried out after him.

"Fair enough," the Doctor said. "Pandora, where is the next pod?"

"It's like, half a mile ahead. But, Doctor? I was scanning around a bit while you were in there. There's something weird up ahead, before you get there. It's big, and the path goes around it on both sides. I don't know what it is, but I'd be careful."

"Okay. Thanks for the heads up," the Doctor replied. The three of them moved along the path again, wary of either side, and followed by Pandora's drone.

It had become almost routine by now, stepping over trigger leaves, waiting for the odd shoot to find purchase before continuing, so they made decent time, and before long, they'd reached the fork in the path that Pandora had mentioned.

"Oh, my giddy aunt," the Doctor said breathily. Ahead of him was a structure as large as a house, but looking like a dark green flower bud. Enormous roots snaked away from it and wrapped around the trunks of other plants. It pulsed rhythmically, squashing and stretching with the movement of fluids inside it.

"Yeah. You see what I mean?" Pandora responded. "What is that thing? It looks like Audrey II." The drone moved overhead and circled it.

"It looks like an enormous rose bud," Ensign Goel said in awe. Obelix whined and stayed as far away from it as the path would allow.

"If that thing's gonna bloom, I hate to see the size of the bee," Pandora said.

The Doctor reached out to touch it, but pulled his hand back. "I've never seen anything like it," he said.

"It's warmer than anything else too," Pandora said. "Not warm like you three, but way warmer than the other plants."

"Let's just stay away from it," the Doctor said.

"My captain is on the other side of it. I'm going on," Goel said.

"Are there any other ways around?" the Doctor asked.

"I don't think so, let me check," Pandora said. The drone shot up again, so she could have a look around. "No, at least not before you get back to the Tardis," she said.

"Okay, onward it is. But carefully." The Doctor stepped onto the path to the right of the giant flower bud and began edging around, keeping his face toward it. Ensign Goel followed, and Obelix reluctantly took up the rear.

"Wait, Doctor? It's getting warmer. I mean, Audrey. The color is changing! It's hotter than you now, pure white. Something's happening! Get back!"

The pulsations of the bud had increased. It looked like there was some sort of fluid build up inside, because it seemed to be growing with every pulse. New roots were reaching out in all directions and digging into the dirt or wrapping around anything they came into contact with.

"Back!" the Doctor shouted, "Back the way we came! Försvinn!" He pushed Goel in his urgency.

Obelix turned immediately and ran back along the main path. Goel turned and followed him, and the Doctor moved as quickly as he could.

"Hurry!" Pandora yelled. "It's so bright now, I can't see anything else!"

The Doctor reached the main path and dove forward, knocking Goel down. He hit the dirt with his helmet an inch away from one of the trigger leaves that lay across the path. The Doctor turned and looked back at the massive bud as it went through one final contraction.

It squeezed tight at the base and the top opened up. A chemical reaction occurred in the fluids inside it, and the fleshy pedal structure instantly became rock hard bark. There was a deafening sound as something shot out of the end of it like an artillery shell. It pulverized the drone instantly and continued on, up into the stratosphere and beyond sight in seconds.

* * *

The holographic image floating above Pandora's controller turned to static, then vanished. "What just happened?" she yelled.

She shook the controller, then banged it several times against one open palm. "Doctor? What happened? Are you okay?"

She tried all of the buttons, and the two triggers, then she started moving the thumbsticks around in random directions. "Doctor!" There was no response. She lifted the controller, making as if to smash it on the ground, but she was afraid to.

"Think, Pandora, what should I do?" She looked over at the console. "The monitor," she said. She ran to the console and set the controller down. She looked at the array of controls in front of her and had no idea which one turned on the monitor. She closed her eyes and tried to picture where the Doctor was standing whenever he turned it on. She took three steps to her right and opened up her eyes. There was a switch actually labeled 'Monitor'. She flipped it.

In the air above the console appeared a 360 degree view of the area directly surrounding the Tardis. They were in the middle of a path, taking it up entirely from side to side. The line of vegetation was taller than the Tardis, so most of what could be seen was just a massive wall of green that moved as if ants were crawling all over the surface. "That's no help at all!" she yelled in frustration.

Just next to the switch was a large dial, much like on old stereo equipment. She turned it, and the image zoomed out to show a larger area, but it was still centered on the Tardis. She looked back down at the console. There were a number of switches close by, but she had no idea what they did. She flipped one of them, and the gas lights went out all around the console room. She quickly switched it back on, and sighed with relief when the lights came back on. She decided it was too dangerous to just randomly hit switches, and she turned the monitor back off. She stepped away from the console.

She felt incredibly out of her league. She couldn't help but think that she should know what to do. The last thing she had seen from the drone was a brilliant flash of light across the screen, then static, then nothing. Maybe Audrey was a bomb or something. Maybe the Doctor and Obelix and that guy were out there dying right now.

She couldn't just sit there, she had to do something. She turned and looked over at the doors to the Tardis, then she looked down at the party dress she was wearing. She pulled the hat off her head and flung it across the room. She ran for the wardrobe, pulling off her high heels as she went.

* * *

"Are you alright?" the Doctor asked.

Ensign Goel backed slowly away from the trigger leaf. He got up to his knees and looked around for his weapon. "I am unharmed," he said. There was a shoot weaving toward the weapon's strap. He dove for it, and picked it up, just as the shoot was about to curl around it. He stood up and threw the strap around his neck, nervously looking at all the moving vines around him.

"Hey," the Doctor said. "Look at me." Goel turned around, pointing the weapon at the Doctor. "Don't freak out on me here. You start blasting away just because you see movement, and these walls will close in on all sides, strangling us in seconds. Just calm down."

"Exactly what about that sentence was supposed to make me calm?" Goel asked, but he seemed more in control of himself.

"Okay, that giant bud seems to be inert for now. We should move on. I don't want to be here when it gets dark," the Doctor said. He turned and headed back toward the spent cannon.

Goel was fascinated by its transformation. What had looked like a giant bulb about to bloom, now looked more like the husk of an ancient redwood, hollowed out by fire, but otherwise intact. The roots which had so recently been alive with movement were visibly dying. "What was the purpose of that?" he asked.

"That was how the Krynoid spreads its seeds around the galaxy, so that's one question answered. I always assumed it was something either tectonic or volcanic. I expect that's also what happened to the fleet of beacons surrounding the planet. It made quick work of Pandora's drone, it would make a right mess of any satellite it ran into as well."

"Beacons? What beacons?" Goel asked.

The Doctor continued around the massive cannon. "Ages ago, when it was clear that this planet would be overrun by the Krynoid, the Fledgling Empires established two hundred warning beacons in high orbit around this planet to warn anyone away. If those beacons were still in place, I'm certain your captain would have steered you away from here. Death in space would have been preferable to what this planet has in store for you. But the Krynoid shot them down with it's seed pods. There's nothing left but shavings. I wouldn't be too surprised if that's what happened to your ship too. Your captain mentioned that you were hit, either by meteors or enemy fire, but I'm thinking now that a few of these cannons fired on your ship."

That was a sobering thought, and Goel tread even more carefully, even well after the cannon was out of sight, wondering whether the Krynoid had actually intended to bring them here.

* * *

Pandora began hastily rummaging through the wardrobe. She wasn't hopeful of finding another environment suit, but she was looking for anything that might be serviceable instead. She found a pair of fishing waders that might work for her lower half, and threw them onto the floor near the entrance. She continued on. Here was a mackintosh with a hood, and there was a fencing mask that went into her pile. Finally she found a pair of rubber gloves that looked like they could be used with hazardous chemicals.

She laid them all out on the floor and stepped back. She rolled her eyes and swore. There was realistically no way these would work. Too many openings. She ran back and started going through the hangers again.

To her great surprise, she found another environment suit. This one looked just like the Doctor's, but was smaller and smelled vaguely of perfume. "Damn it, Doctor!" she said to herself. She realized that the Doctor hadn't actually _said_ he didn't have another environment suit, but he had heavily implied it.

Pandora angrily started putting the suit on.

* * *

"There's another one just here, a big one," the Doctor said, shining his torch light on a trigger leaf as he stepped over it.

"How much further is it?" Goel asked. The path had become narrower again, and the type of plant life had changed. There were little orange and black flowers that peeked out of the walls, feeling like eyes that watched them the whole way.

The Doctor turned back to look at Ensign Goel, then continued walking. "I lost my eye-in-the-sky back there, so I don't really know, but it feels like it ought to be fairly close. Just keep looking for a side passage, like we went through back at your ship."

"But you're in front. Won't you see it before I do?"

"Yes, but you seemed to need something to do."

The two continued on in silence for some time, Obelix patrolling the ground between them. Before long, the beam of the Doctor's sonic illuminated an opening on one side. This one was round, leaving barely enough room for one foot in front of the other, without touching the sides. There were also a fruit that resembled grapes hanging in clumps from the ceiling of this passage. A group of tendrils hung down like a curtain at the entrance.

"There's no way I'll be able to duck down past those…" Ensign Goel said.

"Agreed," the Doctor said. "We have to find some way to move them out of the way." He crouched down in front of the entrance, considering what options they had.

"But they'll attack anything that touches them, won't they?" Goel asked.

"That _is_ the crux of the dilemma," the Doctor agreed.

"There's got to be a dead branch or something laying around here that the Krynoid would recognize as itself," Goel suggested.

The Doctor turned to him, impressed. "That's actually a really good idea. Unfortunately, I haven't seen a single dead leaf since we landed. Any part of the Krynoid that falls off seems to become food for the rest of it."

Goel continued looking around for a stick anyway, but soon had to give up.

"I think I have an idea," the Doctor said, standing up. "These tendrils are just the young ends of vines, right? And plants have an instinct to grow toward the brightest light source…" He pulled out his sonic and held it about a foot above the ends of the tendrils. It buzzed as he activated it, and the tip glowed a faint purple.

"That's not bright enough to do anything," Goel said.

"It's ultraviolet. It operates in a wavelength you can't see. But let's up the brightness," the Doctor said. He pulled back on the ring that his index finger was looped through, and the sonic's whirring noise increased in pitch. The tips of the tendrils rose up and started growing toward the sonic. The Doctor moved it further up, and closer to the mass of vegetation at the side of the passage. The tendrils continued to grow in that direction, until finally they came into contact with the vines growing there, and quickly wrapped around them, pulling themselves tight.

"Let's go. Now," he said, and put his sonic away. He ducked down as low as he could and hurried through to an open area on the other side. He turned and motioned to Ensign Goel. "Come through quickly."

Obelix ran through, and Goel ducked inside. He could hear the sound of something small drag across his helmet, and he knew he'd brushed up against something. He lifted his weapon and put a finger on the trigger.

"No!" the Doctor shouted. "Just run!" He stepped inside and grabbed the barrel of Goel's weapon. He began pulling, even as he saw the sudden growth, and the passage closing in around Goel.

Goel ran, leaves and branches tearing at him as the walls closed in, and the Doctor ran as well. Together they got Goel out of the passage, just as it closed up, but the clearing they were in was shrinking.

The Doctor pounded on the escape pod door. "Let us in!" he yelled.

Ensign Goel joined him at the door, pounding with both fists. "Captain! Open the door!"

The strangling loops of ivy and brambles grew closer.

* * *

Pandora stood at the Tardis doors, suited up, but with her helmet under one arm. She had been about to run out there blindly in order to help the Doctor, but all of a sudden she felt a tugging. She looked back over her shoulder at the reading table, and, sitting on it, her box. "Come on," she told herself. "The Doctor needs your help. And he said it would be safe in here. 'Not even a microbe could make it into the Tardis once the doors are locked,' he said." Seeming to have convinced herself, she pulled the doors open.

A thorny vine cut diagonally across the entrance to the Tardis, from upper-left to center-top. It was tightening its grip as she watched, and a second one was coming in from upper-right to latch onto the first.

Pandora took a step backward. "Of course, I don't have a key, so it won't be locked. And those aren't exactly microbes." She put the helmet on and twisted it until it clicked into place. She ran back for her box, then, gripping it tightly to her chest, she ran out the doors, ducking under the snaking vines. She reached back for the handles and pulled them shut, then turned and hurried on her way. She didn't want to accidentally swing the wooden chest into the walls of vegetation, so she continued to hold it close to her with an arm wrapped around it. She fumbled with her other hand for the torch she had collected before she left. Flipping it on, she started running down the path, avoiding any leaves or tendrils on the path.

Her frame was significantly smaller than that of the Doctor, so she made much better time because she didn't have to worry as much about the walls. "This isn't so bad," she thought. "Just make sure you don't trip."

She played over in her mind the path that the Doctor had taken. "Right at the first fork, then past the opening to Ensign What's-his-face's pod, then right, around Audry." She ended up running much further than she thought she would have to, without seeing any fork in the path. She was about to go back, thinking she must have somehow missed it, when she saw a split up ahead.

She took the right fork and continued on quickly. She made a mental note that there should be a passage to her right, even though she didn't intend to take it. Several minutes passed and she didn't see it. She couldn't have missed it though… Is it possible it closed up after they left? And come to think of it, had the path curved like this before? "Sure looked different from the air," she thought, and continued on.

As she continued, it felt like it was definitely curving too much. But when she saw the gigantic plant bulb looming in her path, she decided that it was all just a matter of perspective. There it was, and even bigger than it looked from above. She looked around for any signs of the Doctor, or Obelix or the ensign, and was relieved to see that there were none. "They must have made it past," she thought. She checked the ground ahead, then proceeded around to the right, being careful to avoid all the roots this thing was putting out. The paths rejoined on the other side, and she continued on as quickly as she dared to.

At this point, she had no idea what to expect. She was hoping that she'd catch up to them, but was surprised to instead be approaching another of the giant buds. She looked left, then right. She reminded herself that last time, the paths rejoined on the other end, so it really didn't matter which way she went. She edged around it to the left this time, just to even things out. Part way around, she found the path she expected, and continued on.

The walls ahead of her began to connect above the path. It grew dark and she was starting to get too scared to continue. She shone her torch around though, and it didn't seem any more menacing. There were still trigger leaves along the path, but nothing dangling from overhead like the Doctor had described. She decided that the Doctor _must_ have gone this way, and so she should too. She continued on, just more slowly.

To her great relief, after a couple minutes in this darkness, she came out into the sunlight again. Once she was in the open, she turned and shone her light up at the wall of viney plants behind her. She got the distinct impression that something very large was under all that growth. She continued on down the path.

It wasn't until she heard a noise that she realized how eerily still it had been. No birds, no insects, nothing. But now, there was a series of loud crashing sounds as of tree trunks snapping one by one and falling to earth. She crouched down low, clinging to her box, and remembering what the Doctor said these paths might be for. She remembered the images from the Doctor's previous run-in with the Krynoid, and imagined that giant lumbering mass of tendrils and roots coming toward her along the path.

Another crash, this one nearby, and she sprang to her feet. It came from somewhere behind her! She ran, close to panic, with just enough presence of mind to jump over any leaves that covered the path. She had no idea how long she ran for, but ages after she stopped hearing any crashing noises.

She saw another passage, cut through the vegetation to the left of her and ducked into it. There were things resembling figs dangling from the ceiling, but she stayed well clear of them. She decided there was no way a large lumbering creature, plant or otherwise, would be following her here.

That's when she saw the white, ball-shaped escape pod at the other end of this passage. Its door lay open. She'd found them! She quickly made it through the passage and stood by the doorway. What was it the Doctor had said? She found the button that activated her external speaker and called out, "Rescue party!"

* * *

Captain Chadha, wearing her powder blue environment suit, minus the helmet, opened the door. The Doctor, Obelix and Ensign Goel practically fell inside. "Close it! Quick!" the Doctor yelled, taking off his helmet.

The captain hit the button, and the door hissed downward. Thorny vines snaked their way in, but the door sliced them easily in half. A seed pod fell off of one of the cut branches and rolled across the floor. The Doctor jumped on top of it, covering it in his helmet. The pod cracked open, and out from it uncoiled a frond, dripping with slime. It writhed around, slapping the inside surface of the Doctor's helmet several times, then became inert.

The Doctor sighed with relief and stood up. Ensign Goel removed his own helmet as well. "I don't know why you appear so relieved! The plants outside are going to crush us now! We've only stalled the inevitable!"

"I don't think so," the Doctor said. He listened for a while. There was the sound of scratching coming from all around, and rending metal coming from somewhere above them, but the sounds soon died down.

"You see?" the Doctor continued. "When the pods first landed on this planet, it would have poked and prodded any opening it could find. If the Krynoid were going to crush this vessel, they would have done it then. No, it wants you to come out, because it knows it can't get in. Not without killing you, and it doesn't want you dead. It wants to turn you. No, mark my words. Give it a few minutes and it will retreat, resetting all its traps."

"So, thank the gods it won't crush us, it has other ways to kill us," Ensign Goel said sarcastically.

"That's enough, ensign," Captain Chadha said. "Thank you for coming to our aid, Doctor. How is it you know so much about these plants?"

"How is it you don't? This _is_ your sector of space, is it not? But never mind that now. Let's get you lot out of here, then we can discuss setting up a new group of warning beacons."

* * *

"Stop!" came a voice from inside the pod! "Do not enter!"

Pandora came to a halt. She looked around self consciously, afraid that the vines would start closing in at any moment. While the clearing was mostly empty, there were a number of vines, which twitched from time to time, reaching out for the pod.

A short man with an unbuttoned dark blue uniform and two days beard growth limped up to the doorway. "Thank the gods," he said. "The forcefield would have fried you, and even worse it would have used all of the batteries to do it." He pulled a connection loose and stepped aside. "Okay. You can come in now."

With another look behind her, Pandora stepped inside. She took off her helmet and savored the taste of the air. "It's nice to know I rank just behind the batteries. I'm Pandora, by the way."

"Mahamati," he said. He extended his hand to shake, then withdrew it. "Just give me a moment." He reattached the wires he'd just disconnected, and wrapped some tape around the exposed ends. "There. We're safe again." He wiped his palms on his uniform then stuck his hand out again. "Mahamati Sastry, Tech - First Class."

Pandora took his hand and shook it. As she did, she saw green splotches on his arm where the uniform normally covered. She turned his arm over to get a better look at it, and Mahamati took his hand back. He pulled his cuff down self consciously and limped back to his chair. He more fell into it than sat down.

"Are you okay?" Pandora asked.

Mahamati laughed painfully. "I'll be okay. The pod hit harder than it should have, and I got pretty banged up. The pod took quite a beating too. There are cracks in the hull there, and there," he said, pointing. "The interior filled with smoke, so I opened the door to vent it, and then I couldn't get it closed again. I rigged up a forcefield at the doorway, but the plants keep testing it. To add insult to injury, I must have cut myself on one of the plants while I was out there." He groaned and lifted his leg onto a stack of equipment. "Burns like my veins are full of Bhut jolokia. Must be poisonous."

"Is that when you started getting the green spots?" Pandora asked. She was of half a mind to put the helmet back on, but she didn't want to appear rude.

He looked away from her and changed the subject. "Could I get some water, please? I'm very thirsty." He gestured toward one of the cabinets.

"Sure," Pandora said. She walked to the cabinet and found that it was filled with pouches marked 'Water'. She brought one of them over to Mahamati.

He grasped the pouch in both hands and tried to tear the top where indicated. Pandora saw his hands shaking too badly to get it done, and he finally put one corner between his teeth and pulled it off. He drank greedily. "More. Please," he said, laying back in his seat as if with great effort.

* * *

"Do you have any kind of external cameras on this pod?" the Doctor asked.

"We do, or at least did. One underneath the craft, and one on top. The former is buried, and the latter is covered," Captain Chadha told him.

"We'll just have to chance it then. Hopefully the plants have moved back by now. We cannot risk being here past nightfall," the Doctor said.

"Wait. I need to tell Prasad and Mahamati that we are coming for them." The captain got into her seat and activated the screen. "Captain Chadha to the crew of the Nirmala Joshi, please respond."

Mahamati's stricken face appeared on the screen. "Tech First Class Sastry here, captain."

"Hang in there Sastry, help is on the way. Officer Veena, please respond." She clicked off her audio broadcast and waited. "Still no response from Prasad," she said, looking up at Goel. She clicked back on. "I can only assume that you hear me and cannot respond. Sastry, Veena, get your environment suits on now. The rescue party is here, and we will be on our way to retrieve you immediately."

The Doctor leaned in to get into the picture. "Hello, Tech Sastry. I'm the Doctor. I can't help noticing you aren't looking too well. Have you, by any chance, had any contact with the plant life here?"

"Doctor?" came Pandora's voice over the screen. She leaned in from behind Sastry. "Oh, Doctor, it is so good to see you again!" she said with a bright smile.

The Doctor's face went white. "Oh, no, Pandora. What have you done?"

Pandora looked chagrinned. "I thought that flower thingy exploded. I was worried about you. I had to see if you were alright… if I could help."

"You weren't supposed to leave the Tardis!" the Doctor yelled. "You were supposed to _go home_ if anything happened to me!" He began pacing, clutching his hair with both hands. He turned back to the screen, pointing. "You get your helmet back on, right now! You stay in that pod and do not move. I'm coming for you Pandora. You stay safe, because I am coming for you!"

He turned to the Captain. "Captain Chadha, have you had any communication from Officer Veena since you made planetfall?"

"Not communication, no," she said.

"I'm afraid the reason he's not talking is that he's gone. We should worry about the ones we can save, and go after Sastry and Pandora," the Doctor said.

"No, he's still alive," Chadha insisted.

"I'm sorry, but he's not."

"Of course he is. His communicator isn't working, but he's still alive, and I'll prove it." She tapped a few buttons, and the screen changed to a biometric feed. The three other pods showed up side by side. Goel's pod registered no life signs, but the other two did. "You see? If he were dead there would be no life signs."

"Why is there only one life sign showing up in Sastry's pod?" the Doctor asked, pointing. "Pandora's there as well."

"Because the pods are only expecting one. It's a binary result, either there is life, or there isn't. His has life in it, so does Veena's."

"Oh, it has life in it, but it's not human life. There's a Krynoid in that pod."

Captain Chadha stood up, her face livid. "Doctor, you are placing a priority on your friend's life over my crew member, and I will not have that. I am the captain of the Nirmala Joshi, and everything on board. I am responsible for the financial loss of my ship—"

"Don't tell me you're one of those, Captain Chadha! You put a dollar value on your investments, and you're worried about your financial losses at a time like this!"

"You didn't let me finish, Doctor!" she said, stabbing at his chest with her finger. "I am already responsible for the loss of my ship. It's gone. The only thing I have left to me is the well-being of my crew! I will not leave one of them behind based on your best guess! I will not tell you where to find this Pandora, until I have seen his body!"

The Doctor stopped short. "I'm sorry, Captain. I've misjudged you. We will go find Officer Veena, and I hope I'm wrong about him."

* * *

Pandora put her helmet back on and sat on top of her box, against the cupboards on one side of the pod. She wished she had something to distract her from the moaning sounds that Mahamati was making. He was getting worse. The green spots she had seen on his arm were now all over the back of his hands and were poking out of the collar of his uniform.

She had tried earlier to help him into his environment suit, but he begged her not to. "It's too hot. I'm burning up already. Please. I'll put it on when they come." Pandora had reluctantly agreed.

Now he seemed to have muscle spasms, and though he was doing his best to mask the pain, she could see that he was suffering. Finally she stood up. "Look, isn't there something I can get you for the pain? You must have a first aid kit."

Mahamati turned onto his side, but that didn't seem to be any better. "Yes," he groaned. "Top drawer. There." He pointed.

Pandora pulled open the drawer and found a large white box. She opened it to find alcohol swabs, bandages and a bottle of pills. She didn't recognize the medication, but since it was the only bottle in there, it must have been the pain pills. She tried to twist open the top, but she couldn't get a grip on it with the gloves of the environment suit. She decided just to give the bottle to Mahamati, but when she turned to face him, she knew there was no way he'd be able to open the bottle, the way he was shaking and convulsing.

She bit her lip and turned back to the counter. She set down the bottle, then took off her gloves and set them down next to the bottle. She pulled another pouch of water from the cabinet and tore off the seal. She opened the bottle and poured out three pills, then took the pills and the water over to Mahamati. "Can you sit up?" she asked.

He grunted the affirmative and struggled upright. He opened his mouth and Pandora dropped the pills in one at a time, then held the pouch of water up to his lips. He grabbed the pouch and drank thirstily.

She went back to the counter to put her gloves back on, but her attention was caught by a beam of sunlight on her skin. She started looking for the source of it. One of the cupboards had shifted in the crash, and she moved it to see if it was the source.

Several vines fell through a crack in the hull as soon as she moved the cupboard out of the way. One of them lashed out and whipped around her arm. She reacted quickly and pulled away from it, feeling thorns tear at her skin. She slammed the cupboard back into place and leaned her back against it, cradling her bleeding and burning arm in her other hand.


	3. Death of a Companion

Captain Chadha held a device which showed the position of all the pods. As the Doctor opened the door to her escape pod, she was busy determining which blip on her screen represented Officer Veena.

"Just as I thought," the Doctor said. "It's backed off. Not quite far enough that I could land the Tardis here, but…" He stepped out into the clearing around the front of the pod and gave the surroundings a quick scan.

Ensign Goel joined him. "The plants are different than when we went in," he said.

"Yes. More inviting, wouldn't you say?" the Doctor agreed. All signs of brambles were gone, and they were surrounded by beautiful flowers of several varieties and succulent citrusy fruits. Patches of grass grew in areas that were previously bare earth. Any one of them would make for a nice lie down under normal circumstances. "I'll bet they're pumping out soporific pheromones as well. Thus, the helmets."

He turned to the captain, who was just exiting the pod with Obelix trailing behind. "Remember, all of it is the Krynoid. You mustn't touch anything living." He turned and headed for the passage to the main path. "Stay close. We'll be moving fast."

Obelix immediately followed him. The captain and the ensign shared a glance, then ducked underneath the dangling foliage. They emerged in a path subtly changed from the one they'd previously left. The watching flowers remained, but their former soft petals now ended in barbed points, and they flexed occasionally now; opening and closing like the hungry mouths of some predatory insect. The leaves that surrounded them had a sheen to them that hadn't been there before. The effect was of something sticky, or even toxic. The trigger-leaves were gone from the path as well, replaced by clumps of sickly grass, six inches high in places.

The Doctor headed off to the right, and lead them over and around the clumps, between the towering walls of death on either side. Soon they came to the first fork of the path. "Which way?" the Doctor asked.

Chadha consulted her device. "To the right."

"And Pandora and Sastry are off to the left?" the Doctor asked.

"I do not intend to answer any questions about your companion until we have reached Officer Veena," she repeated.

"Captain, I have already agreed to rescue him first, and I'm a man of my word," the Doctor said. "However, if this is the path to them, and we need to backtrack to this location, I would like to mark it in someway. I'm working on a theory I don't much like. Now are they to the left, or are they not?"

Chadha hesitated a moment more, but finally said, "Yes."

The Doctor knelt and scratched the shape of an arrow into the dirt, pointing left. "Thank you. Let's go." He continued down the path to the right.

Another ten minutes later the Doctor held up a hand and crouched low. Captain Chadha was about to ask what made him stop when she heard it. Branches were being broken as something large moved steadily and unimpeded through the thick jungle off to the side of their path. The Doctor pointed to the left and slightly behind them, then motioned for them to continue.

They moved quietly, and slower than any of them wanted, until well after they could no longer hear the reluctant snap of live wood. Something about knowing that there was a monster stalking them made their sense of dread more immediate. Whether or not they touched the sides, or stepped on the grassy triggers to this planet's deadly trap, was mostly up to them. However, they had absolutely no control over when this creature might stumble up them.

The Doctor held up a hand again and they all stopped. He pointed off to the right. There was another passage through the hedge that has so far indicated the location of one of their escape pods. Captain Chadha consulted her device, and nodded to the Doctor. He shone the beam of his sonic around the edges of the passage and tentatively stepped inside. No stalactites this time, but the trigger-grass was in place, and the leaves virtually dripped with the sticky, toxic resin.

They gathered in the clearing on the other side of the passage. Despite the Doctor's intention to hurry, the daylight was starting to lessen. He skipped knocking this time, and used his sonic screwdriver to open the door to the pod.

The door hissed upward, but no light shone out. He stepped inside and waved his light around as the others joined him. Obelix stayed outside, whining.

The inside of the pod was a mess. Cupboards and drawers were open, with their contents spilled about the interior. The chair, intended to keep its occupant safe through planetfall, had been wrenched from its base and was laying on its side. Late afternoon light streamed solemnly through no less than three wide cracks in the hull. A large section at the rear of the pod was blackened, where a fire had briefly raged before a foam suppressant was released.

Worst of all was the body. The Krynoid had come in through every available opening, and three seed pods lay empty around the wreckage of the chair. Officer Veena lay, still strapped into the chair's restraints. He had died on impact, but that didn't stop the plants from draining his body of any available nutrients. A flowery plant grew from his empty eye sockets and gaping mouth, and a second had erupted from his chest.

The three of them stood in shocked silence, then the Captain approached the body. She reached out toward it, but the Doctor put a hand on her shoulder, holding her back. "His dog tags…" she started.

"No," the Doctor interrupted.

"For his family…" she said, reaching out again.

"Touch them, and this will be our tomb," the Doctor said. His tone was firm, but not lacking in compassion. "Let's go save the others."

* * *

Pandora had used the alcohol swabs very liberally, then covered the wounds on her arm with bandages. Mahamati had been right, it felt like something molten had been injected into her veins. She did her best not to think about it. What right had she to complain when he had it so much worse? She found a blanket and draped it over him. His temperature seemed to be dropping, and he continued to convulse, but the pills must finally be working because he had dropped off to sleep. Occasionally he would still moan, and his brows were knitted into a troubled expression. Whenever his head tossed from one side to the other, he left clumps of hair behind. The green spots now covered all his visible skin, and had grown a moss-like fuzz.

"Come on, Doctor," she said pleadingly. She wanted to get in contact with them again. She felt a need to tell the Doctor that she'd been… what? Bitten? Stung? Neither sounded right, but she needed to tell him, and more importantly, she needed to hear him say it would be alright. That he can fix it. None of that mattered though, because she had no idea how to operate the screen, and didn't know whether she could reach them anyway, if they were on their way.

She looked to where her gloves still lay on the counter. She thought about putting them back on, but an old saying about horses and barn doors occurred to her. Still, it could be like a snake bite. Just because you've been bitten already doesn't mean you want to be bitten again. She finally walked to the counter and put them on, even if there was no point, it was something to do.

She went back to Mahamati's side, and for a moment, she saw her own face there. She saw her own future. She looked away and blinked back tears. She took a deep breath and settled herself. There'd be no way to wipe away tears, and there was no way she'd be taking the helmet back off.

"Antibiotics," she said. "What kind of first aid kit doesn't have antibiotics?" She left Mahamati to start searching again. She found the food paste dispenser. "Probably full of vitamins, but I doubt I could force feed him." She moved on. Hearing the sound of her own voice helped. The next cupboard was full of resistance bands. "What, no yoga ball?" she said. The next one had a dozen or so packets of seeds and some sort of dehydrated potting medium. "Great. More plants. Just what I needed." A torch in the next drawer, a scanner of some sort in the next, fuses and chipsets in the one after that. She slammed it shut and turned to look around the place. "Why isn't any of this labeled?" she yelled.

Mahamati twitched again under the blanket. Pandora rushed back to his side. "Sorry," she said softly, putting a gloved hand on his forehead.

She was startled at the sound of an animal whine from behind her. She turned to see Obelix come running into the clearing. She smiled with sudden relief and joy, then quickly looked up at the wires joined with duct tape at the top of the open entrance. "Sluta!" she yelled, and the dog sat on its haunches a foot or so from the deadly forcefield.

Pandora moved quickly to the door and stood on tip-toe to reach the hastily bundled wires. There was a barely perceptible shimmer in the air, and the threshold was safe again to cross. She got down on one knee and called to Obelix. "Kom, pojke." The dog stood up and padded to her. She hugged his shoulders and rubbed his back through the suit. The Doctor and two strangers came into the clearing behind him.

Pandora stood and opened her mouth to say something, but the Doctor gave her a stern look and passed by her. Captain Chadha gave her a nod of acknowledgment and followed him. Ensign Goel stayed outside, holding his weapon at the ready. Pandora gave him an appraising look, then turned to join the Doctor and Chadha at Mahamati's side. "Doctor," she said.

He ignored her. "I'm sorry, Chadha, but there's nothing we can do for him. He's all but turned now," he said.

"I do not accept that, Doctor. There must be something we can do," the captain said.

"But there isn't. I'm so sorry, but believe me. I've seen it before. The Krynoid spreads throughout the victim's system, like a virus. It's inevitable, it's irreversible, and it's only a matter of time. Soon he'll become one of those lumbering creatures we heard outside."

"Doctor," Pandora tried again.

"Pandora, please. We'll talk later. Can't you see a man is dying here?" the Doctor said, exasperated.

"So am I!" Pandora yelled back. She yanked the glove off of her injured arm and held it up for all to see. Green spots had formed around the edge of the bandages.

The Doctor's mouth gaped, and his shoulders slumped. Pandora had held onto some hope until that moment. She'd heard everything he said earlier, and she knew it was serious, but even after what the Doctor had said about Mahamati's hopeless case, she had to believe there was still a chance for her, but all she saw in the Doctor's expression was defeat.

"Maybe if we amputated…" he said without any real conviction.

Pandora took a step backward, a chill running up her spine. "Amputate? No, Doctor, please! You can't!" Tears welled up again, and this time she could not control them. "Please, Doctor! Say you can save my arm?"

He continued to look at her sadly for a moment more, then turned to the captain. "Are there any antibiotics on this pod?" he asked her.

"So, you can save her, then?" the captain responded.

"I have to try!" the Doctor yelled.

"But not Mahamati?" she retorted.

"Surely you can see he's too advanced! We'd only be wasting them! Now, quickly: Where are the antibiotics?"

The captain opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a wet, squelching sound from behind them. Roots and vines erupted from every part of Mahamati's body, ripping through skin and clothing alike. Green liquid splashed over the side of the chair and dripped from leaves and shoots that unfurled along the length of the vines. They stretched out in all direction, seeking something to cling to, then settled into a vaguely humanoid form. The creature that was once Mahamati sat up in his chair and turned toward them. The only human thing that remained of him was his eyes.

The Doctor pushed Pandora toward the entrance. "Run!" he yelled. He reached for the captain, but she was already pulling away from the creature. She pushed toward the doorway and started running.

Pandora called out, "My box…" but the Doctor kept pushing her. They got to the center of the clearing and turned.

The Krynoid moved faster than anything that big should be able to. It reached out with a hand which was just a mass of vines that whipped around like tentacles. It grabbed hold of the doorway and flowed out into the clearing, the roots of its feet digging into the bare earth. It seemed to gain strength and grow even larger.

The plant life around them responded to its presence and began to close in, the passage behind them to close up.

The Krynoid reached for the captain, the vines of its hand growing to stretch the distance between them. Ensign Goel came up behind them. "Duck, captain!" he yelled and pulled his trigger.

The Doctor, Chadha and Pandora dove to the ground, and the air above them roared with hellfire as Goel waved the barrel of his flame thrower from side to side, dousing the Krynoid. The creature roared and flailed around. Balls of wriggling, flaming vines flew off, setting fire to the advancing wall of plants.

Goel turned and blasted the passage behind them. Flames raged up the sides and the plants recoiled from the heat. More grew in from behind him and he advanced into the space he had made, then turned to hit the branches that were flanking him. They closed in from all directions, and while he burnt the ones in front, they came closer behind him until he was finally caught by the leg. He tried to turn, but couldn't quite reach the vine that had a hold of him. Another snaked in from the other side and got his arm, then a third started to pry the weapon from his hands. He held on all the tighter and managed to point the barrel downward.

"Stay down!" the Doctor yelled. He put a hand on each of their helmets and pushed them into the dirt. Goel pulled the trigger, dousing himself and all the plants around him in liquid fire. Flames licked up the barrel of the weapon, and found a weak spot. The tanks caught fire, and there was a momentary jet, then a massive explosion. A large circle around where Goel had been standing was entirely cleared of vegetation in an instant.

The Doctor looked up at the Krynoid, still staggering around, one leg burnt off and arms flailing. He looked forward at the clearing, and beyond it could glimpse the path that had led them here. "Run! Now!" he yelled and leapt to his feet.

"My box!" Pandora yelled, looking back at the entrance to the pod.

The Doctor pushed her forward. The plants were already creeping inward, reclaiming the burnt out area.

Pandora turned once more toward the pod. The dog stood in the entrance, cowering from the fiery plant creature that separated him from them. "Obelix!" she yelled.

The Doctor continued to push her forward, but turned to look. Between the branches that were beginning to reform a barrier to the clearing, and under one flailing arm of the Krynoid, he could just make out the dog. "Sitt!" he yelled. "Ner!" He pointed his sonic at the entrance, and the view of Obelix shimmered for a moment, then the Doctor turned and ran.

* * *

The Doctor led Pandora by the hand, chasing after Captain Chadha. They sprinted ahead as the walls of the path closed in behind them, in an expanding circle from the point of the explosion.

"I don't even know if we're running in the right direction!" Chadha called over the suit's coms.

"Nobody does," the Doctor called back. "Remember that arrow I drew on the ground before? We never passed it. The trails have been constantly shifting since we got here. I'm not even sure if it connects back to the Tardis any more."

"Doctor," Pandora panted. "I can't keep up."

The Doctor glanced back at her. She was pale, and sweating from their short exertion. Her eyes were heavy, and she was stumbling along. He looked back at the trail closing up behind them. It looked like it was slowing as well. "Sastry's Krynoid was the plants' eyes and ears. With him gone, they don't know where we are anymore. I think it's safe to slow down."

Chadha slowed down to a quick walk ahead of them, and the Doctor and Pandora matched her speed.

"Thank you," Pandora said.

The trail had stopped closing up behind them, and so without verbally agreeing on it, they came to a stop. Chadha leaned over with her hands on her knees. "My crew…" she said.

The Doctor walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. "Ensign Goel died saving our lives. Let's make sure that counts for something." He was quiet for a while, then said, "I never even found out his name."

Chadha looked up at the Doctor with a sad smile. "Abhay. It means 'brave one'."

The Doctor smiled back, and patted her on the shoulder. "He certainly lived up to his name." He squeezed her shoulder and walked back to be with Pandora. He knelt down in front of her and held her hand in both of his. "If you're feeling any better, we should move."

Pandora nodded, though in truth, she didn't feel any better. "But, where do we go? I heard what you said about the trails."

The Doctor held up his sonic screwdriver. The tip glowed blue. He stood up and slowly moved in a circle, and stopped a third of the way around. "The Tardis is that way." He shut of the sonic and pointed down the trail leading closest to that direction. "We head this way. When the path branches, I scan again until we get there."

"Okay, make's sense we go that way, it's all closed up behind us." Pandora said, standing.

"Don't be so sure," the Doctor said. He indicated with a tilt of his head that she should look behind her.

Pandora turned. The plants were moving apart to make a path, curving off in a different direction than the old one had. "Oh. Great."

"Pandora, you're scratching your arm. Does it itch?" the Doctor asked.

She looked down at her arm, not realizing she'd been scratching at it. "No actually. It burns. From the sting."

The Doctor was quiet for a bit, just watching her. "You realize it was the other arm that got stung, right?"

Her eyes got wide, and she felt at the other arm. "It's gone numb, Doctor."

He took her hand. "We need to hurry. If there's any chance to save you, it will be back on the Tardis." He turned and started walking briskly up the path. "Chadha, we're going. Now. Keep up." He brushed past her, despite the narrow space.

They continued a lively pace for another half hour before Pandora began to complain again. "No more. I can't, Doctor, I'm sorry, but I can't." She let go of the Doctor's hand, and bent over with her hands on her knees. "I feel like I'm going to pass out," she said, breathing hard.

"It's okay. Lay down," the Doctor said, helping her to the ground in a clear part of the path. "Just breath."

"It hurts, Doctor. It hurts a lot," Pandora said faintly.

The Doctor looked up at Chadha then back down at Pandora. The veins on her neck were raised and black. They couldn't see any more of her, but her arms were surely covered in green sores by now, possibly more of her. Her legs and arms were twitching uncontrollably. She closed her eyes and breathed fitfully.

"Stay with us, Pandora. We're going to get you back to the Tardis. Once we're there, I've got something that will help." He waited for some sign that she could hear him. "Pandora?" he called out again, shaking her shoulder gently.

She did not respond. Her brows were knitted in pain, and her eyes moved around as if in fitful sleep.

The Doctor looked up at Chadha. "It's the activity. Her blood pumping through her body has spread the infection faster than normal. I'm afraid we've — I've been making her worse. At this rate she hasn't got long. I've got to find some way to slow down her metabolism."

He let go of her shoulders and reached for Chadha instead. She backed away instinctively as he started patting her down. "Doctor?" she said, offended.

"Do you have anything on you? A sedative? Something they may have packed in the suit for survival situations?"

"No, Doctor, nothing. Just air, and this locator," she said, still pulling away from him.

"Air!" the Doctor said. "Maybe if I reduce the air pressure, it will act as a sedative." He rolled her onto her side to reach the regulator valve, but paused before twisting it tighter. "It could also kill her." He laid her back down gently, leaving the valve untouched.

He sat back on his heels, thinking frantically for several seconds, then he leaned over her and grabbed both shoulders, shaking her hard. "Hey! You! Whatever you are, living inside of Pandora! Come out and save her!" He let go of her shoulders and watched her for any reaction at all.

"Doctor?" Chadha said.

He ignored her. When there was no response from Pandora, he lifted her by the shoulders and shoved her back down, the dome of her helmet thumping hard on the ground. "You care so much about that damned box, you're ready to kill for it! What happens if the box's defender dies, huh? Where will you be then? Save her!"

"What are you talking about, Doctor?" Chadha asked.

"Quiet. I need to do this," he spat. "Come on!" He started shaking her violently. " _Save her!_ "

There was no response from Pandora, other than the convulsing of her limbs.

The Doctor gave it another ten or fifteen seconds, whispering under his breath the whole time, "Come on, come on, come on." Finally he said quietly, "No choice."

He reached down and grasped her helmet with both hands and twisted until the seals came undone. He pulled it off and set it aside. He reached down with one hand and pinched her nostrils closed, then he placed his other hand over her mouth.

Pandora's eyes flew open, and met the Doctor's with a look of surprise. She grabbed his arms with both of hers and shook her head back and forth, trying to force him off of her. The Doctor kept hold of her mouth and nose, even leaning forward to put more of his weight on her.

"Doctor, what are you doing?" Chadha said. She grabbed him by the shoulders, trying to pull him back.

"Get off me!" he yelled. He let go of Pandora's nose for a moment to take a swipe at Chadha, who stepped back out of his reach. Pandora sucked in as much breath as she could before the Doctor got his hand back on her nose, pinching her nostrils shut. "I'm so sorry, Pandora. I'm so sorry."

Pandora balled her hands into fists and started pounding on the Doctor's arms, but he wouldn't stop. Her movements grew weaker and weaker until her arms fell to her sides and her eyes rolled back.

* * *

The Doctor continued to hold her airways closed.

"What have you done, Doctor?" Chadha asked in horror.

He finally let go. He stood up, whipping out his sonic screwdriver and scanning the area. He settled on one spot. "Now, we run," he said. He lifted up Pandora's body and threw her over his shoulder, then took off running, without looking back at Chadha.

"This is part of a plan, yes? You are going to revive her, correct?" Chadha said over the coms as they ran.

"I hope so. I'm running on hope at this point. I first realized this inevitability when I thought about the fact that lowering her oxygen level might kill her. It made me think of your unfortunate crewman Veena. He was already dead when the Krynoid got to him, so he couldn't be taken over. The Krynoid needs a living system to infest, and the one in Pandora is still at the early stages. It hasn't reached maturity. I'm hoping that killing her does more damage to it than it will to her. If you have a particular god that brings you comfort, say a prayer for her. We have three minutes and twenty-one seconds before oxygen deprivation starts to cause brain damage."

He continued to run. They reached another bulb cannon, but the Doctor didn't even break his stride. He tore off around the corner, holding his sonic out in front, its blue light glowing brightly in the growing darkness. Soon after that, there was another fork in the path, and the Doctor took another scan, then turned almost completely around to take the right fork. After another minute of running down the curved path, he came to a stop.

"There she is. Just through there. So close and yet so far," the Doctor said. Through the brambles and flowering vines that made up the wall to the path, they could see a boxy, deep blue shape. They could just about touch it if they reached carefully.

"Perhaps another passage has opened up?" Chadha said hopefully.

The light on the end of the Doctor's sonic switched from blue to bright white, and he swept it up and down the path. "Doesn't look like it. And I don't have any time left." His expression became resolute, and the light on his sonic changed again, this time to red. It made a buzzing sound that rose in pitch as he slowly pulled the ring back. It became painfully high, then inaudible. He continued to pull back on the ring. The leaves all along the wall began to shake, and soon, the interlocking vines let go and pulled away.

The shape of the police box was revealed. "That's your rescue ship?" Chadha asked.

"Yes. Go. Now," the Doctor said, as the branches continued to retreat around them. The vines were changing as well, thorns were growing to incredible lengths, dripping with toxicity. Chadha had never before imagined an angry plant, but that was clearly what she was looking at now.

She ran for the Tardis door as soon as it was clear. She pulled on the handles, and when that didn't work, she pushed the doors wide and ran inside. He slammed the doors shut, and the Tardis rocked from the sudden assault of all the branches retaking the ground they'd lost. The Doctor ignored it and ran to a bookshelf across the console room. He passed Chadha along the way, and caught her curious expression. "Bigger on the inside. Yes, I know," he said.

"Yes, very clever," she said. "What I don't get is why the doors say to pull if you have to push to get in? We could have died out there waiting for me to figure it out."

The Doctor reached the bookshelf, and pulled back on a red volume in the middle. There was a click, and the shelf swung upward. A thin table, covered in a mattress emerged from the hollow behind the wall, and the Doctor laid Pandora down on it even before it stopped moving. He pulled a mass of wires from a panel under the bookshelf and began sticking them to key points around her head.

"Can I help?" Chadha asked.

The Doctor looked at her skeptically.

"The Nirmala Joshi was a medical ship," she explained. "She was crewed by doctors, including me."

He went back to what he was doing. "Well then, Doctor Chadha, if you can manage an injection, there's a panel in front of you. Third hypo from the right is what we're looking for."

Chadha opened the panel and located the syringe. "Adrenaline?" she asked, unzipping Pandora's suit to get to her chest.

"No," the Doctor said. "It's too soon to revive her. It's a catalyst. It will allow her brain to metabolize fructose. Thanks to the invasive plant, there's plenty of it in her system now. She can go for eighteen, maybe twenty minutes without oxygen that way. But you have to administer it," he said, turning Pandora's head to the side, "here. Between the second and third cervical vertebrae."

Chadha quickly removed her helmet, then shrugged out of her suit, letting it drop to the floor. She picked out the syringe and used two fingers of her other hand to locate the break between vertebrae. She pushed the long needle in until there was a cracking sound, then she pressed down hard on the plunger.

The Doctor finished up with the sticky tabs on the electrodes and flipped on a monitor above the bed. "Good," he said, stepping back. "Okay. That should buy us a few more minutes." He ran out of the room through a doorway to the left of the console. He returned a minute later with a vial of some liquid. "Prepare another syringe, an empty one," he said, and set the vial down next to the bed. He pulled the suit down over Pandora's shoulder, loosened her glove and pulled her arm out of the sleeve. Green spots extended up past her shoulder, and black veins could be seen under her skin all the way up her neck. "Any one of these will do."

"And what is in this one?" Chadha asked as she passed the Doctor a syringe.

"It's a synthetic auxin," he said, filling the syringe up from the vial. "Plant cells use auxin to grow and reproduce. This will theoretically throw a spanner in the works. Also theoretically, it won't harm Pandora at all." He shot a bit of the liquid into several of the larger veins, then looked back up at Chadha. "Theoretically."

"And you just have bottles of that laying around?" Chadha asked.

"No. Course not. But I've got a machine in there that'll replicate anything, as long as you can convince it it's food."

He handed the syringe and the vial to Chadha. "Try to get as many veins as you can. You can hopefully find a few more on her legs. Without blood flowing through her system, you're going to need to distribute it by hand." He came around to Chadha's side of the bed. "In just over ten minutes, the machine will automatically attempt to revive her via direct cortex stimulation." He pointed first to one of the syringes in the wall panel, then to another. "Adrenaline. Cyanide. Don't mix them up. If the machine needs help reviving her, use the adrenaline. If the spots continue to spread before the ten minutes are up, use the other. If you don't, she'll climb off this bed and kill you. Understood?"

"Why me, Doctor? Where are you going?" Chadha asked, holding the empty syringe in one raised hand.

The Doctor ran to the door, then turned back to face her, holding his sonic up in a similar position. "I left my dog outside. I've just got to fetch him."

* * *

Pandora blinked her eyes open. It took her a few moments to come to her senses, during which she made eye contact with Doctor Chadha, who was leaning over her. Pandora sat bolt upright, pulling the electrodes on her head to their limit. "My box!" she said, and then, "Ow!" She rubbed at her head, then looked down at her arms. There were needle tracks up and down their length, and the veins were swollen and blue, but at least the green spots were nearly gone.

She looked up to find the Doctor sitting crosslegged nearby in his customary reading chair, with a large book, open on his lap. He reached over to the table next to him, and placed a hand on top of her wooden chest.

"Yes. I killed you a couple hours ago, but I did save your box. Good to see you've got your priorities straight," he said at the obvious relief in her eyes. He set a playing card in the book to mark the page, then closed it and set it beside Pandora's box. He came over to stand next to her. "Please lie back down. Your system is going to need some time to flush out a lot of toxins. Are you hungry at all?" he asked, helping her into a laying position. Doctor Chadha excused herself to let them talk.

"Hungry?" she repeated. "No. I feel like I'm going to vomit. And I'm in too much pain to be properly angry right now. I'll trust you to remind me later." She closed her eyes. "Doctor, you scared the hell out of me back there."

"I know," he said. "And I'm sorry." He started peeling the electrodes off of her head. "On the other hand, I've got a new 'most difficult thing I've ever had to do'. Those are hard to come by."

Pandora felt a slobbery tongue on her hand, and lifted her head enough to see the dog. "Obelix!"

"Yeah. I had to save him too, seeing as how he was right by that box of yours."

"Good boy," she rasped. She patted him on the head as she lay back down on the pillow.

There was a deep base thud, and the electricity stopped arcing over the console. "Ah! That's us, back on New New Delhi. Doctor Chadha, grab your coat."

He ran to the doors, pulling his own hoodie from the hat rack, and throwing it on as he pulled open the doors. Outside could be seen the soaring skyscrapers of the capital city, situated around a stunning stone-for-stone replica of the Swaminarayan Akshardham.

Chadha stepped outside, basking in the smells of home, a place she had barely hoped to return to. She turned back to the Doctor, standing in the doorway of his Tardis. "Thank you, Doctor. I only wish I had something of my crew to return to their families."

"I'm afraid that will never be possible. But do remember to set up the beacons. Warn all future travelers away from that planet."

"I will Doctor. Goodbye."

The Doctor closed the door to the Tardis, and Chadha watched it fade away and disappear into the night. She turned to walk back to her home, but was surprised to hear the sounds of the Tardis's engines again. She turned back around and saw the blue box slowly re-materialize. When it was fully solid, the Doctor opened the door up and leaned his head out.

"Oh, by the way, I found all these crates of antibiotic on some derelict spaceship. I hope you don't mind if I leave it here." With that he closed the door, and the Tardis engines started back up. The blue box faded once again from the streets of New New Delhi. In its place were rows and rows of crates that Chadha recognized as the entire cargo manifest of the Nirmala Joshi.


End file.
